WEBVTT 00:00:01.310 --> 00:00:03.950 Welcome to Healing Scars with Pastor Burton, 00:00:04.129 --> 00:00:07.269 the official podcast of Cross -Christian Fellowship, 00:00:07.290 --> 00:00:10.769 Route 66, in the heart of Albuquerque, New Mexico, 00:00:10.990 --> 00:00:14.150 where Burton is the lead pastor. We're glad you're 00:00:14.150 --> 00:00:17.910 here. Let us pray. Father, we thank you for this 00:00:17.910 --> 00:00:19.469 day. We thank you for this time of fellowship, 00:00:19.629 --> 00:00:21.550 this time of worship, and a chance to praise 00:00:21.550 --> 00:00:26.250 your name and grow in you. We have a lot of people 00:00:26.250 --> 00:00:29.120 hurting here. physically, spiritually, emotionally. 00:00:29.719 --> 00:00:32.359 We lift them all up to you as you are a great 00:00:32.359 --> 00:00:34.500 physician, and we ask for your healing, your 00:00:34.500 --> 00:00:38.960 peace that surpasses all understanding, and your 00:00:38.960 --> 00:00:40.979 guidance as everybody goes through the healing 00:00:40.979 --> 00:00:42.560 that they need to go through in Jesus' name. 00:00:42.700 --> 00:00:46.000 Amen. You know, the last few weeks, we've been 00:00:46.000 --> 00:00:48.640 all over the place. We've had Mother's Day. We've 00:00:48.640 --> 00:00:50.719 had Father's Day. We've got Fourth of July coming 00:00:50.719 --> 00:00:53.659 up. We've got people traveling. As a matter of 00:00:53.659 --> 00:00:57.090 fact, the test was just in Florida. for a convention 00:00:57.090 --> 00:01:00.869 of sorts, right? Brian is getting ready to leave 00:01:00.869 --> 00:01:04.030 here in a couple weeks. As a matter of fact, 00:01:04.049 --> 00:01:06.269 I believe I'm going to be gone that same week 00:01:06.269 --> 00:01:09.230 because I'll be in North Carolina. So there's 00:01:09.230 --> 00:01:10.829 a lot of people doing a lot of things. There's 00:01:10.829 --> 00:01:13.530 a lot of moving parts. So summer's good. So definitely 00:01:13.530 --> 00:01:17.629 in your time of prayer at home, keep everybody 00:01:17.629 --> 00:01:20.549 in there, especially on the road. We have a lot 00:01:20.549 --> 00:01:23.109 of people who work on the road. As well, so, 00:01:23.150 --> 00:01:25.709 you know, safety, travel mercies are definitely 00:01:25.709 --> 00:01:29.409 needed aplenty. All right? So definitely keep 00:01:29.409 --> 00:01:33.569 all that in mind. You know, I always like to 00:01:33.569 --> 00:01:36.370 say to pray for Albuquerque when you're on the 00:01:36.370 --> 00:01:38.689 road anyway, just because we consistently rank 00:01:38.689 --> 00:01:40.930 in the top ten most dangerous places to drive 00:01:40.930 --> 00:01:44.189 in the U .S. We're usually around four to six. 00:01:44.290 --> 00:01:45.870 Sometimes we go up a little higher, unfortunately. 00:01:46.069 --> 00:01:49.189 But this Albuquerque, I guess we're used to it. 00:01:50.590 --> 00:01:53.030 I don't know. But with that said, we're going 00:01:53.030 --> 00:01:54.569 to get into our subject matter here real quick. 00:01:57.530 --> 00:01:59.209 We're actually going to be spending some time 00:01:59.209 --> 00:02:01.430 over the next few weeks in the book of Malachi. 00:02:01.650 --> 00:02:03.489 So for those of you who like to go ahead and 00:02:03.489 --> 00:02:05.730 flip ahead in your apps, your Bibles and everything, 00:02:05.950 --> 00:02:09.979 go ahead and turn to Malachi chapter 1. And we're 00:02:09.979 --> 00:02:11.400 going to be looking at a number of things, not 00:02:11.400 --> 00:02:13.360 all of it today, of course, but as we go through 00:02:13.360 --> 00:02:17.000 the next few weeks, a lot of things such as looking 00:02:17.000 --> 00:02:19.740 at people and confronting them in their sin, 00:02:19.919 --> 00:02:22.360 helping them to restore their relationship with 00:02:22.360 --> 00:02:27.060 God are really the fundamentals that we go through 00:02:27.060 --> 00:02:29.979 and then approaching him with a full heart, not 00:02:29.979 --> 00:02:35.199 approaching him half -heartedly. All right? So 00:02:35.199 --> 00:02:36.740 like I said, keep in mind, we're not going to 00:02:36.740 --> 00:02:39.009 go through all of it today. We don't have the 00:02:39.009 --> 00:02:42.129 time, nor do I want to create a hostage situation. 00:02:42.770 --> 00:02:45.210 I know some of you all want to get to lunch at 00:02:45.210 --> 00:02:48.710 a reasonable time. But chronologically, we're 00:02:48.710 --> 00:02:49.930 going to go through, we're going to see sinful 00:02:49.930 --> 00:02:51.689 priest, which is actually what we're going to 00:02:51.689 --> 00:02:54.759 spend most of today looking at. and sinful people. 00:02:55.139 --> 00:02:57.479 And then finally, we're going to get to the faithful 00:02:57.479 --> 00:02:59.460 few. And all throughout this, we're going to 00:02:59.460 --> 00:03:02.840 see the theme of God's love and forgiveness that 00:03:02.840 --> 00:03:05.819 surpasses everything. And in fact, it's because 00:03:05.819 --> 00:03:09.199 of His love and our relationship with Him that 00:03:09.199 --> 00:03:11.979 we have to confront people in their sin and call 00:03:11.979 --> 00:03:17.400 them out on it. As we go through, it's important 00:03:17.400 --> 00:03:22.770 to keep in mind that You know, we all do things 00:03:22.770 --> 00:03:25.210 that hurt relationships. We don't necessarily 00:03:25.210 --> 00:03:28.530 intend to. Sometimes we do, though, right? Sometimes 00:03:28.530 --> 00:03:30.189 we lash out. We're kind of hurtful, a little 00:03:30.189 --> 00:03:33.889 spiteful, you know? But we do things. And unfortunately, 00:03:34.110 --> 00:03:36.770 when we do these things, it's what, you know, 00:03:36.789 --> 00:03:40.069 we burn bridges, right? And sometimes these relationships 00:03:40.069 --> 00:03:43.449 take a lengthy time to repair, if they can be 00:03:43.449 --> 00:03:46.949 repaired at all. I can use my little brother 00:03:46.949 --> 00:03:49.849 as an example. He and my father were very estranged 00:03:49.849 --> 00:03:51.849 for a very, very long time. And unfortunately, 00:03:52.030 --> 00:03:54.229 they never fully got to heal that bridge before 00:03:54.229 --> 00:03:57.150 he passed away. You know, he said for years and 00:03:57.150 --> 00:03:58.590 years and years, oh, I'm going to change my name. 00:03:58.610 --> 00:03:59.849 I'm going to change my name. I don't want to 00:03:59.849 --> 00:04:05.229 go buy it. It was very bitter. You know, so things 00:04:05.229 --> 00:04:09.310 happen. You know, and also, you know, sometimes 00:04:09.310 --> 00:04:16.600 we take people for granted, don't we? We have 00:04:16.600 --> 00:04:18.079 them. They're there all the time. We kind of 00:04:18.079 --> 00:04:19.420 take it for granted. Oh, I'll see you tomorrow. 00:04:20.819 --> 00:04:23.620 Then something happens and that relationship 00:04:23.620 --> 00:04:29.500 becomes strained or goes away altogether. You 00:04:29.500 --> 00:04:31.199 know, we say hurtful things. We break promises. 00:04:31.279 --> 00:04:35.459 We let people down. You know, but it doesn't, 00:04:35.459 --> 00:04:37.319 whether it's intentional or not, it doesn't negate 00:04:37.319 --> 00:04:41.399 the harm that is caused. The harm is already 00:04:41.399 --> 00:04:47.139 there. The damage is done. However, you know, 00:04:47.139 --> 00:04:49.579 God's love is perfect. It's complete. He's able 00:04:49.579 --> 00:04:53.100 to forgive us. And it's actually a lot easier 00:04:53.100 --> 00:04:55.199 for him to forgive us sometimes than it is for 00:04:55.199 --> 00:04:57.420 us to forgive other people or even forgive ourselves. 00:04:59.399 --> 00:05:02.660 A lot of us like to hold on to that sin and carry 00:05:02.660 --> 00:05:05.240 it around as though it's our burden to carry, 00:05:05.379 --> 00:05:14.740 our cross to bury, right? But it's not. We need 00:05:14.740 --> 00:05:17.079 to live more like God. We need to be godly people 00:05:17.079 --> 00:05:21.100 living in a characteristic life of God, which 00:05:21.100 --> 00:05:23.279 is love and action. It's not just those empty, 00:05:23.339 --> 00:05:25.160 hollow words, but the things that we do, the 00:05:25.160 --> 00:05:26.860 things that we say, the way we treat people. 00:05:27.660 --> 00:05:31.439 And we see it in God and his giving and his guarding 00:05:31.439 --> 00:05:33.220 and protecting and guiding each and every one 00:05:33.220 --> 00:05:37.000 of us throughout our lives, every day when we're 00:05:37.000 --> 00:05:39.199 on our path. So again, we're going to go into 00:05:39.199 --> 00:05:43.610 Malachi chapter 1. And as everybody's opening 00:05:43.610 --> 00:05:45.110 to it, I'm going to give you some background 00:05:45.110 --> 00:05:49.189 here. Malachi is the last book in the Old Testament. 00:05:49.889 --> 00:05:51.750 It's the last one. So if you're not sure where 00:05:51.750 --> 00:05:53.110 it is, go to the middle of your Bible. Boom, 00:05:53.230 --> 00:06:01.069 there it is. And this book was written around 00:06:01.069 --> 00:06:06.720 430 B .C. While the previous prophets, Haggai 00:06:06.720 --> 00:06:09.800 and Zechariah, rebuked people for their failure 00:06:09.800 --> 00:06:13.079 to rebuild the temple, Malachi is actually confronting 00:06:13.079 --> 00:06:16.899 a couple of other things. One, the people's neglect 00:06:16.899 --> 00:06:20.139 of the temple, and two, their false and profane 00:06:20.139 --> 00:06:23.220 worship at this particular point. The temple 00:06:23.220 --> 00:06:24.819 itself had actually been rebuilt. It had been 00:06:24.819 --> 00:06:27.800 rebuilt for a while. People's ability to go and 00:06:27.800 --> 00:06:29.600 worship had been re -implemented. They'd been 00:06:29.600 --> 00:06:32.860 able to go for quite some time, but they didn't. 00:06:33.339 --> 00:06:35.759 For them, it was very humdrum. It had become 00:06:35.759 --> 00:06:38.040 something that they did because they had to do 00:06:38.040 --> 00:06:41.519 it. It was very legalistic, all right, which 00:06:41.519 --> 00:06:43.379 is not the way to do it. You know, their enthusiasm 00:06:43.379 --> 00:06:46.459 for going to worship or wanting to go to church, 00:06:46.540 --> 00:06:52.540 their fire for the Lord had fizzled out. You 00:06:52.540 --> 00:06:54.800 know, and a big part of it was because, you know, 00:06:54.839 --> 00:06:55.980 especially when we go through the Old Testament, 00:06:56.100 --> 00:06:58.740 we see a lot of prophecies, and a lot of those 00:06:58.740 --> 00:07:02.040 prophecies being fulfilled, right? A lot of miracles 00:07:02.040 --> 00:07:05.899 are already at play. And at this point, they've 00:07:05.899 --> 00:07:08.000 kind of simmered down a bit, or at least for 00:07:08.000 --> 00:07:12.600 what people recognized. So they're like, okay, 00:07:12.660 --> 00:07:14.500 maybe God forgot about us. They took him for 00:07:14.500 --> 00:07:19.180 granted. And a lot of people, they're still practicing 00:07:19.180 --> 00:07:23.100 the same sin that had brought around the downfall 00:07:23.100 --> 00:07:27.480 of Jerusalem around 586 B .C. I'll remind you, 00:07:27.480 --> 00:07:29.910 the number's B .C. We go from big to small. You 00:07:29.910 --> 00:07:31.269 know, it's A .D. that we go from small to big. 00:07:32.529 --> 00:07:34.009 Sometimes people forget, that's why I throw it 00:07:34.009 --> 00:07:36.769 out there, right? Malachi, he was confronting 00:07:36.769 --> 00:07:39.269 the sins of hypocrites by presenting a rather 00:07:39.269 --> 00:07:42.110 graphic dialogue between God and those people 00:07:42.110 --> 00:07:45.569 whose hearts had hardened, right? So with that 00:07:45.569 --> 00:07:46.589 said, we're going to go ahead, we're going to 00:07:46.589 --> 00:07:50.470 jump into the first part of Malachi. Malachi 00:07:50.470 --> 00:07:56.490 1, verses 1 through 5. And the Word says, The 00:07:56.490 --> 00:07:59.009 burden of the Word... of the Lord of Israel to 00:07:59.009 --> 00:08:02.709 Malachi, I have loved you, says the Lord. Yet 00:08:02.709 --> 00:08:06.389 you say, in what way have you loved us? Was not 00:08:06.389 --> 00:08:11.250 Esau Jacob's brother, says the Lord? Yet Jacob 00:08:11.250 --> 00:08:14.310 I have loved, but Esau I have hated, and laid 00:08:14.310 --> 00:08:16.629 waste to his mountains and his heritage for the 00:08:16.629 --> 00:08:20.069 jackals of the wilderness. Even though Edom has 00:08:20.069 --> 00:08:26.649 said we have been impoverished, but we will... 00:08:26.959 --> 00:08:30.300 return and build the desolate places. Thus says 00:08:30.300 --> 00:08:32.779 the Lord of hosts, that may build, but I will 00:08:32.779 --> 00:08:36.000 throw down. They shall be called the territory 00:08:36.000 --> 00:08:39.279 of the wickedness and the people against whom 00:08:39.279 --> 00:08:43.059 the Lord will have indignation forever. For your 00:08:43.059 --> 00:08:49.620 eyes shall see and you shall say the Lord is 00:08:49.620 --> 00:08:53.399 magnified beyond the border of Israel. So right 00:08:53.399 --> 00:08:55.039 out the gate, God's reminding people the many 00:08:55.039 --> 00:08:57.179 ways he's... He's already shown his love to them, 00:08:57.279 --> 00:09:00.220 right? So remember, love is an action. It's not 00:09:00.220 --> 00:09:03.960 just, oh, I love you, bye. It's in how we treat 00:09:03.960 --> 00:09:09.779 people. It's the things that we do. So he's reminding 00:09:09.779 --> 00:09:12.500 them, you know, and how he had chosen Jacob and 00:09:12.500 --> 00:09:16.360 his descendants to be the nation he would use 00:09:16.360 --> 00:09:21.580 to bless the world. He had a special place in 00:09:21.580 --> 00:09:23.879 his heart for them, right? You know, people talk 00:09:23.879 --> 00:09:25.320 about that, everything that's going on in Israel 00:09:25.320 --> 00:09:26.679 right now. They're like, oh, the promised land, 00:09:26.860 --> 00:09:30.039 right? God's people and everything. There's a 00:09:30.039 --> 00:09:31.879 reason why people talk about it to this day that 00:09:31.879 --> 00:09:35.559 way. Because God had a heart for these people. 00:09:37.860 --> 00:09:40.519 You know, it could have been Esau that he had 00:09:40.519 --> 00:09:43.960 blessed as opposed to Jacob. But Esau had rejected 00:09:43.960 --> 00:09:47.679 his birthright and the blessing of the person 00:09:47.679 --> 00:09:50.100 God was making his covenant through, right? Covenant 00:09:50.100 --> 00:09:52.700 being a promise. So Esau's like, no, uh -uh, 00:09:52.700 --> 00:09:55.980 bye. So God turned to Jacob, and Jacob accepted. 00:10:02.539 --> 00:10:04.379 You know, and God's very first message here is, 00:10:04.419 --> 00:10:10.379 I have loved you. It's like I've loved you. But 00:10:10.379 --> 00:10:14.720 you don't respect me. You know, this message, 00:10:14.840 --> 00:10:17.759 while in itself was originally intended for Israel, 00:10:17.919 --> 00:10:20.549 it's become a beacon of hope. For everybody, 00:10:20.710 --> 00:10:24.009 for all nations, right? The entire world, for 00:10:24.009 --> 00:10:25.549 all time. You know, here in the U .S., we're 00:10:25.549 --> 00:10:27.429 very patriotic. Yes, we should. We should love 00:10:27.429 --> 00:10:29.029 our own land. We should love where we're from. 00:10:29.070 --> 00:10:31.250 Like, oh, we're the U .S. We're the best, right? 00:10:31.809 --> 00:10:33.649 But we need to remember, especially as Christians, 00:10:33.909 --> 00:10:38.710 we belong to a bigger kingdom. We live here now, 00:10:38.929 --> 00:10:41.789 but as Christians, we belong to the kingdom of 00:10:41.789 --> 00:10:46.470 God, which is much higher, what we should be 00:10:46.470 --> 00:10:50.980 representing. Right? When people turn to the 00:10:50.980 --> 00:10:52.820 cross and they see, people see the cross, much 00:10:52.820 --> 00:10:54.440 like they see our flag. What do the people see 00:10:54.440 --> 00:10:57.559 when they see our flag? Hope. When people look 00:10:57.559 --> 00:11:02.539 to the cross, what do they see? Hope. Love. As 00:11:02.539 --> 00:11:05.259 it should be. The things that we embody as our 00:11:05.259 --> 00:11:08.940 character as a nation. Right? One nation under 00:11:08.940 --> 00:11:13.019 God. Something too many of us have gotten away 00:11:13.019 --> 00:11:19.179 from. You know, but again, you know, God, he 00:11:19.179 --> 00:11:21.779 wants everyone to come to him, not just a select 00:11:21.779 --> 00:11:24.559 few, not just like Israel. He wants everybody 00:11:24.559 --> 00:11:27.720 to come to him willingly because they want to. 00:11:27.840 --> 00:11:29.940 That's why we've been given the choice to choose 00:11:29.940 --> 00:11:33.779 him or to choose the world. Right? And that's 00:11:33.779 --> 00:11:35.940 really the only two choices that are there. Choose 00:11:35.940 --> 00:11:39.039 God or choose the world. Which is more important 00:11:39.039 --> 00:11:44.539 to you? You know, sadly today people become cynical. 00:11:44.639 --> 00:11:46.320 They use the actions of other people as their 00:11:46.320 --> 00:11:49.559 measuring stick. Things like economic troubles, 00:11:49.700 --> 00:11:52.700 politics. However, because we see so much rampant 00:11:52.700 --> 00:11:57.259 corruption in government and other areas, the 00:11:57.259 --> 00:12:00.000 economy up and down and all over the place, right? 00:12:00.539 --> 00:12:03.240 People turning towards other people and away 00:12:03.240 --> 00:12:05.700 from God. It's like, oh, this guy can fix it. 00:12:05.740 --> 00:12:07.159 Oh, let's go to the mayor. Let's go to the governor. 00:12:07.240 --> 00:12:09.120 Let's go to the president. These guys can fix 00:12:09.120 --> 00:12:13.419 it all. No, they can't. Some people cheer for 00:12:13.419 --> 00:12:14.919 them and other people are furious with them. 00:12:16.039 --> 00:12:19.230 Why? Because they're men. They get some things 00:12:19.230 --> 00:12:21.009 right. They get some things wrong. None of them 00:12:21.009 --> 00:12:23.909 is infallible. Not one. But they're put up on 00:12:23.909 --> 00:12:27.690 this pedestal. The pedestal God should be on 00:12:27.690 --> 00:12:31.629 because they're not up here. They're actually 00:12:31.629 --> 00:12:34.350 down here because we forget they're supposed 00:12:34.350 --> 00:12:40.610 to work for us. But we don't hold them accountable 00:12:40.610 --> 00:12:42.470 to that. We give them free reign to just do whatever 00:12:42.470 --> 00:12:44.110 instead of representing the people they're elected 00:12:44.110 --> 00:12:48.879 to. Right? Absolute power absolutely corrupts. 00:12:48.879 --> 00:12:54.159 We've all heard that. And it's true. You know, 00:12:54.200 --> 00:12:57.279 people fail to see that these failures stem because 00:12:57.279 --> 00:12:59.860 ungodly people that they put so much value in. 00:13:00.299 --> 00:13:03.120 But we need to look to God to fix things, not 00:13:03.120 --> 00:13:10.320 expect a bunch of paid liars. We look at a lot 00:13:10.320 --> 00:13:14.159 of these people and their empty promises. Think 00:13:14.159 --> 00:13:16.830 back when we were in school, right? People running 00:13:16.830 --> 00:13:19.029 for student council and everything. Oh, I'm going 00:13:19.029 --> 00:13:20.570 to get more vending machines. We're going to 00:13:20.570 --> 00:13:24.490 have better food in the cafeteria, right? Yeah, 00:13:24.590 --> 00:13:26.549 we're going to have more time between classes. 00:13:29.289 --> 00:13:31.350 Even today, these are still a lot of the same 00:13:31.350 --> 00:13:34.730 promises that people like to echo, right? It's 00:13:34.730 --> 00:13:36.549 just they change as we get older into other things. 00:13:36.730 --> 00:13:38.950 It's the same stuff, nothing that they can actually 00:13:38.950 --> 00:13:41.090 follow through on, but it's the same hollow, 00:13:41.210 --> 00:13:43.889 empty things. It was like, oh, yes, that sounds 00:13:43.889 --> 00:13:48.179 great. Vote for this dude. But does it ever come? 00:13:49.720 --> 00:13:52.820 No. And sometimes things do come, but not the 00:13:52.820 --> 00:13:54.559 way people expect it or from the person they 00:13:54.559 --> 00:13:56.399 expect, and then they become very venomous because 00:13:56.399 --> 00:13:58.700 of it, right? It's like, no, it's supposed to 00:13:58.700 --> 00:14:00.000 be him. Why are you doing it? Why are you doing 00:14:00.000 --> 00:14:06.179 it that way? You know, we see it here in Albuquerque. 00:14:06.299 --> 00:14:09.179 You look at our crime, right, and our homeless 00:14:09.179 --> 00:14:12.840 situation. And it hasn't gotten any better. If 00:14:12.840 --> 00:14:14.360 anything, it's actually gotten worse, hasn't 00:14:14.360 --> 00:14:19.929 it? And it starts all the way at the top and 00:14:19.929 --> 00:14:22.769 works its way all the way down. But we keep voting 00:14:22.769 --> 00:14:27.590 for the same kind of people because we hold so 00:14:27.590 --> 00:14:38.490 much value in a title or a party. You know, we 00:14:38.490 --> 00:14:40.169 keep putting the same people in their cohorts 00:14:40.169 --> 00:14:41.750 there without the accountability, and we expect 00:14:41.750 --> 00:14:43.590 them to fix things. Like I said, we should be 00:14:43.590 --> 00:14:45.750 turning to God. God is the only one who can fix 00:14:45.750 --> 00:14:48.009 things. And in his word, he told us it's going 00:14:48.009 --> 00:14:52.809 to get worse before it gets better. Because that's 00:14:52.809 --> 00:14:55.669 sin in the world. It's also because we have the 00:14:55.669 --> 00:15:00.129 choice. We have the choice. He doesn't want robots. 00:15:00.250 --> 00:15:02.350 He doesn't want a bunch of mindless minions just 00:15:02.350 --> 00:15:03.909 bebopping around like a bunch of dodo birds. 00:15:04.529 --> 00:15:06.490 Right? What happened to them? They went away. 00:15:06.509 --> 00:15:10.889 They're extinct, right? He doesn't want that 00:15:10.889 --> 00:15:15.200 for us. So he's given us a choice. come to me, 00:15:15.259 --> 00:15:17.100 look out for yourself and your fellow man, love 00:15:17.100 --> 00:15:19.860 one another like I've loved you, or go the way 00:15:19.860 --> 00:15:21.460 of the world and to heck with all of them, right? 00:15:21.980 --> 00:15:24.700 Take on that mentality. In the Marine Corps, 00:15:24.840 --> 00:15:26.980 we say, semper ai, to heck with the other guy. 00:15:27.039 --> 00:15:29.080 Only to heck is not the word we would use. We'd 00:15:29.080 --> 00:15:31.039 use a lot more colorful words than that. But 00:15:31.039 --> 00:15:32.799 that is the mentality of the world, is it not? 00:15:33.559 --> 00:15:36.419 It's all about me. To heck with you. How's it 00:15:36.419 --> 00:15:38.759 benefit me? What's in it for me? Nothing? Bye. 00:15:39.299 --> 00:15:42.679 See ya. It's not the way it's supposed to be, 00:15:42.720 --> 00:15:46.159 though. People confuse this, and they become 00:15:46.159 --> 00:15:48.500 very legalistic. Oh, I did all these things. 00:15:48.679 --> 00:15:52.820 Why won't God give me what I want? Why isn't 00:15:52.820 --> 00:15:56.059 God there for me because I want all this? I did 00:15:56.059 --> 00:15:59.179 this, I did this, I did this, I did that. Well, 00:15:59.220 --> 00:16:00.580 it's a very simple reason. It's because it's 00:16:00.580 --> 00:16:03.740 not about you. You did all this stuff with the 00:16:03.740 --> 00:16:06.519 expectation of something in return. It wasn't 00:16:06.519 --> 00:16:09.500 supposed to be that way. It's not about you. 00:16:09.539 --> 00:16:14.629 It's about God. We're here to support God, not 00:16:14.629 --> 00:16:20.110 the other way around. We don't get to do things 00:16:20.110 --> 00:16:23.429 and try to use it as a bargaining chip, right? 00:16:23.889 --> 00:16:25.769 And we'll do that stuff, even in our own lives. 00:16:26.470 --> 00:16:28.450 We like to do stuff and be like, hey, I did this 00:16:28.450 --> 00:16:30.029 for you. I scratched your back. Why don't you 00:16:30.029 --> 00:16:35.610 scratch my back? It's like, really? I don't remember 00:16:35.610 --> 00:16:39.330 agreeing to this. It's like, that's your job, 00:16:39.389 --> 00:16:43.179 isn't it? You're supposed to do that. Why are 00:16:43.179 --> 00:16:49.899 we negotiating about you doing your job? But 00:16:49.899 --> 00:16:59.960 it happens. You know, we also forget, you know, 00:16:59.960 --> 00:17:01.639 like the song goes, sometimes unanswered prayers 00:17:01.639 --> 00:17:04.380 is an answer in itself, right? Some consecrated 00:17:04.380 --> 00:17:07.660 gifts are unanswered prayers. There we go. There's 00:17:07.660 --> 00:17:10.609 the song. If you don't listen to country, you 00:17:10.609 --> 00:17:14.289 probably don't know it. It's okay. But an unanswered 00:17:14.289 --> 00:17:17.750 prayer in itself is an answer. Why? Because God 00:17:17.750 --> 00:17:21.529 has better things in store for us. He knows what 00:17:21.529 --> 00:17:25.190 we need before we even ask. Sometimes he's saying, 00:17:25.269 --> 00:17:28.069 hey, you need to do without this for right now 00:17:28.069 --> 00:17:31.029 because all the way down here, you're going to 00:17:31.029 --> 00:17:32.910 get something even better. There's something 00:17:32.910 --> 00:17:36.009 better in store for you. And for those of us 00:17:36.009 --> 00:17:39.279 who believe, When we die, where do we go? We 00:17:39.279 --> 00:17:41.500 go to heaven. Where's our ultimate treasure stored? 00:17:41.819 --> 00:17:46.440 In heaven. Not here. But that's the thing. Our 00:17:46.440 --> 00:17:49.220 flesh wants to be here. Our flesh, which is what 00:17:49.220 --> 00:17:51.779 we're always in battle with, says, hey, I want 00:17:51.779 --> 00:17:55.140 this. I want the alcohol. I want the drugs. I 00:17:55.140 --> 00:17:57.700 want the gambling. I want the pornography. And 00:17:57.700 --> 00:17:59.859 all this other stuff, right? I want the latest 00:17:59.859 --> 00:18:02.000 car. I want the biggest house. I want the fashion 00:18:02.000 --> 00:18:06.099 trend, right? Give it all to me. And we are constantly 00:18:06.099 --> 00:18:08.750 at war with ourselves. Why? Because it's the 00:18:08.750 --> 00:18:10.150 flesh. And that's why the Bible refers to it 00:18:10.150 --> 00:18:13.769 as the flesh. The flesh doesn't care that our 00:18:13.769 --> 00:18:15.569 treasure is stored up in heaven. Why? Because 00:18:15.569 --> 00:18:19.309 our flesh is not going with us. It's going to 00:18:19.309 --> 00:18:20.750 stay here and it's going to turn back to dust 00:18:20.750 --> 00:18:23.650 and poof, be gone. While we are in heaven with 00:18:23.650 --> 00:18:28.910 our new bodies for eternity. That's why our soul 00:18:28.910 --> 00:18:35.509 finds happiness in the Lord. So again, it's not 00:18:35.509 --> 00:18:40.779 about us. It's about... Him. Now for this next 00:18:40.779 --> 00:18:42.420 part, we're going to read through quite a bit. 00:18:43.039 --> 00:18:45.240 I promise there's a reason for it. We're going 00:18:45.240 --> 00:18:47.279 to go through the rest of this chapter, really 00:18:47.279 --> 00:18:50.559 verses 6 through 14. So let's pick back up in 00:18:50.559 --> 00:18:53.420 our reading here, Malachi 1, verses 6 through 00:18:53.420 --> 00:18:56.880 14. I'll try to stay on top of the slides as 00:18:56.880 --> 00:19:02.859 we go. The word says, a son honors his father 00:19:02.859 --> 00:19:06.059 and his servant, his master. If then I am the 00:19:06.059 --> 00:19:09.869 father, Where's my honor? And if I am a master, 00:19:10.049 --> 00:19:13.269 where is my reverence, says the Lord of hosts, 00:19:13.410 --> 00:19:17.509 to you priests who despise my name? Yet you say, 00:19:17.750 --> 00:19:23.309 in what way have we despised your name? You offer 00:19:23.309 --> 00:19:27.150 defiled food on my altar, but say, in what way 00:19:27.150 --> 00:19:30.210 have we defiled you? By saying, the table of 00:19:30.210 --> 00:19:33.920 the Lord is contemptible. And when you offer 00:19:33.920 --> 00:19:38.240 the blind as a sacrifice, is it not evil? And 00:19:38.240 --> 00:19:41.700 when you offer the lame and sick, is it not evil? 00:19:42.599 --> 00:19:45.599 Offer it to the governor. Would he be pleased 00:19:45.599 --> 00:19:51.799 with you? Would he accept you favorably? Says 00:19:51.799 --> 00:19:56.740 the Lord of hosts. But now entreat God's favor, 00:19:56.940 --> 00:20:01.779 that he may be gracious to us while... This is 00:20:01.779 --> 00:20:05.480 being done by your hands. He will accept you 00:20:05.480 --> 00:20:10.380 favorably, says the Lord of hosts. Who is there 00:20:10.380 --> 00:20:13.799 even among you who would shut doors so that you 00:20:13.799 --> 00:20:15.940 would not rekindle fire, so that you would not 00:20:15.940 --> 00:20:20.180 kindle fire on my altar in vain? I have no pleasure 00:20:20.180 --> 00:20:29.380 in you. Lost my place here. Sorry, guys. It says, 00:20:29.480 --> 00:20:31.440 Lord of hosts, nor will I accept an offering 00:20:31.440 --> 00:20:34.640 from your hands. For from the rising sun, even 00:20:34.640 --> 00:20:37.660 to its going down, my name shall be great among 00:20:37.660 --> 00:20:41.079 the Gentiles. In every place, incense shall be 00:20:41.079 --> 00:20:44.880 offered to my name, and a pure offering for my 00:20:44.880 --> 00:20:49.019 name shall be great among the nations, says the 00:20:49.019 --> 00:20:58.720 Lord of hosts. But you profane it. And that you 00:20:58.720 --> 00:21:02.539 say, the table of the Lord is defiled and its 00:21:02.539 --> 00:21:08.359 food is contemptible. You also say, oh, what 00:21:08.359 --> 00:21:10.799 weariness. And you sneer at it, says the Lord 00:21:10.799 --> 00:21:13.880 of hosts. And you bring the stolen, the lame, 00:21:13.920 --> 00:21:18.960 and the sick. Let me repeat that. And you bring 00:21:18.960 --> 00:21:22.720 the stolen, the lame, and the sick. Thus you 00:21:22.720 --> 00:21:25.579 bring an offering. Should I accept this from 00:21:25.579 --> 00:21:28.920 your hand, says the Lord? But cursed be the deceiver 00:21:28.920 --> 00:21:34.460 who has a flock, has his flock, a male, and takes 00:21:34.460 --> 00:21:37.180 a vow, but sacrifices to the Lord what is blemished. 00:21:37.220 --> 00:21:40.660 For I am a great king, says the Lord of hosts, 00:21:40.779 --> 00:21:43.819 and my name is to be feared among the nations. 00:21:45.579 --> 00:21:48.359 I know it's a lot. I know it is. We're going 00:21:48.359 --> 00:21:50.099 to unpack it fairly fast, though, for time's 00:21:50.099 --> 00:21:52.720 sake. You know, God, he's calling out the priest 00:21:52.720 --> 00:21:54.720 here, right? And thereby, he's calling out the 00:21:54.720 --> 00:21:56.710 people. Because they're all involved. They're 00:21:56.710 --> 00:22:01.369 all doing the same thing. And it's not just the 00:22:01.369 --> 00:22:07.369 fact that they're failing to honor him. It's 00:22:07.369 --> 00:22:10.710 actually worse because they're showing contempt. 00:22:11.950 --> 00:22:15.869 They're showing contempt here. They're not honoring 00:22:15.869 --> 00:22:20.730 him. The temple had been rebuilt 515 B .C. Worship 00:22:20.730 --> 00:22:23.579 had been restored. And the very people who should 00:22:23.579 --> 00:22:26.059 have been leading worship, teaching people what's 00:22:26.059 --> 00:22:27.720 right, this is the way we do things, this is 00:22:27.720 --> 00:22:30.559 why we do things, they were in it half -heartedly. 00:22:31.220 --> 00:22:32.440 They weren't following through. They weren't 00:22:32.440 --> 00:22:35.819 doing their job. Even for them, it would become 00:22:35.819 --> 00:22:38.539 very humdrum. It's like, oh, man, do I have to? 00:22:40.059 --> 00:22:44.099 Right? Think of it this way. Church, right? Church 00:22:44.099 --> 00:22:47.460 services. Especially as a kid. Hey, we're going 00:22:47.460 --> 00:22:49.680 to church. Oh, man, really? Do I have to? Come 00:22:49.680 --> 00:22:54.759 on. I want to sleep. I want to sleep. No, get 00:22:54.759 --> 00:22:57.279 in the car. We're going. Right? Get dressed. 00:22:59.059 --> 00:23:04.019 And you went because you had to. You didn't enjoy 00:23:04.019 --> 00:23:06.680 it. You didn't want to be there. But you did 00:23:06.680 --> 00:23:11.400 it because you had to. And that's why I brought 00:23:11.400 --> 00:23:13.119 up my government, because it starts at leadership. 00:23:13.220 --> 00:23:15.700 And we saw it right here. The priest, the teachers, 00:23:15.799 --> 00:23:18.460 the leaders, the very people who should have 00:23:18.460 --> 00:23:21.230 been teaching people. They themselves didn't 00:23:21.230 --> 00:23:22.630 even want to be there. Like, oh, man, I want 00:23:22.630 --> 00:23:26.130 to sleep in. There's a sheep out there. I want 00:23:26.130 --> 00:23:28.369 to go slaughter it and have some lamb for dinner. 00:23:29.569 --> 00:23:31.289 I got better things on my plate than sit here 00:23:31.289 --> 00:23:36.789 with you. But that's the attitude they had. And 00:23:36.789 --> 00:23:39.750 when people have that attitude, right, people 00:23:39.750 --> 00:23:45.069 recognize it. People comes down. You go into 00:23:45.069 --> 00:23:46.670 a room. You have one friend. They're always chipper. 00:23:46.710 --> 00:23:49.430 They're very upbeat, right? They come into a 00:23:49.430 --> 00:23:51.890 room. And the room lights up, right? Like, oh, 00:23:52.069 --> 00:23:56.289 look who's here. And they're excited. We all 00:23:56.289 --> 00:23:57.849 have friends like that. We all have coworkers 00:23:57.849 --> 00:23:59.690 like that. And then you have your other friend 00:23:59.690 --> 00:24:03.950 who comes in. They're like, Eeyore. Nobody loves 00:24:03.950 --> 00:24:12.630 me. I'm okay, I guess. How do people respond 00:24:12.630 --> 00:24:15.670 to that? It's like, oh, geez. Look who walked 00:24:15.670 --> 00:24:17.150 through the door. Maybe if we don't talk to them. 00:24:17.349 --> 00:24:19.869 Just leave them over there. It's going to be 00:24:19.869 --> 00:24:24.009 okay. Yeah. Oh, hey, here he comes. Hi. How are 00:24:24.009 --> 00:24:25.970 you doing? Nobody wants to be around that dude, 00:24:26.009 --> 00:24:31.690 right? Nobody does. It's the same way here. So 00:24:31.690 --> 00:24:33.250 it starts at leadership and it worked its way 00:24:33.250 --> 00:24:35.170 down because people were actually seeing this 00:24:35.170 --> 00:24:38.130 in play and the place that they should go to 00:24:38.130 --> 00:24:40.230 work on their relationship and come to know God 00:24:40.230 --> 00:24:44.170 and what God expects. But it was half -hearted. 00:24:45.730 --> 00:24:47.750 At best. I should say half -hearted at best. 00:24:48.250 --> 00:24:49.849 Because for some people, their heart wasn't in 00:24:49.849 --> 00:24:52.269 it at all. It was just what they did. It was 00:24:52.269 --> 00:24:57.930 their job, right? We all know the job versus 00:24:57.930 --> 00:25:06.730 work. Yeah, I see the heads nodding. You know, 00:25:06.769 --> 00:25:08.410 the Lord should have been first in their lives. 00:25:08.470 --> 00:25:10.730 And we're talking about priests here, right? 00:25:10.809 --> 00:25:14.759 The ministers of the day. Their heart. First 00:25:14.759 --> 00:25:16.480 and foremost, beyond anybody, their heart should 00:25:16.480 --> 00:25:17.339 have been it. They should have been excited, 00:25:17.420 --> 00:25:19.839 like, hey, welcome. Guess what we're going to 00:25:19.839 --> 00:25:21.759 talk about today? You're going to love this. 00:25:24.539 --> 00:25:28.799 To the point it could have been infectious. But 00:25:28.799 --> 00:25:32.339 they didn't want to do it. They said become very 00:25:32.339 --> 00:25:37.500 legalistic. And it stems much beyond that, even 00:25:37.500 --> 00:25:40.460 in our giving. In our giving. And I'm not just 00:25:40.460 --> 00:25:43.349 talking financially. Because we give in a number 00:25:43.349 --> 00:25:45.690 of ways, right? We give of our time. We give 00:25:45.690 --> 00:25:48.710 of our resources. We give of a lot of things, 00:25:48.930 --> 00:25:55.750 right? This week we have the youth visit, right? 00:25:55.910 --> 00:25:58.410 Yeah, that in itself. That is a lot of time and 00:25:58.410 --> 00:26:02.430 a lot of effort, is it not? It can be. It absolutely 00:26:02.430 --> 00:26:04.170 can be. Especially when you're trying to get 00:26:04.170 --> 00:26:06.269 something together. You know, for like a big 00:26:06.269 --> 00:26:08.049 event for like a holiday or something like that, 00:26:08.170 --> 00:26:14.139 right? Logistics involved in everything. But 00:26:14.139 --> 00:26:17.019 does it seem so burdensome because you want to 00:26:17.019 --> 00:26:20.539 do it? No. If it's something that you had to 00:26:20.539 --> 00:26:22.200 do and that was the only reason you did it, though, 00:26:22.220 --> 00:26:25.140 it would seem very burdensome, wouldn't it? But 00:26:25.140 --> 00:26:28.920 every couple weeks we have this, and I know Molly 00:26:28.920 --> 00:26:31.460 likes going. It's a passion for her. She loves 00:26:31.460 --> 00:26:34.420 it. Mike loves going. Tess loves going when she 00:26:34.420 --> 00:26:43.049 can go. It's not a burden. We enjoy it. I have 00:26:43.049 --> 00:26:46.170 to go watch a golf game. It's a burden. Someone 00:26:46.170 --> 00:26:50.609 says, let's watch hockey. Let's do it. I don't 00:26:50.609 --> 00:26:54.470 care if it's on the TV, right? We all have things 00:26:54.470 --> 00:27:00.410 like this in our lives. So when we give, it should 00:27:00.410 --> 00:27:02.089 be something that we want to do, not something 00:27:02.089 --> 00:27:04.670 that we have to do. It should be something we 00:27:04.670 --> 00:27:06.529 get excited for, something that we're passionate 00:27:06.529 --> 00:27:08.569 about, something that we love. We look forward 00:27:08.569 --> 00:27:10.670 to it. It's like, oh, hey, I get to do this. 00:27:11.400 --> 00:27:12.779 You know, sometimes we have to wrap our minds 00:27:12.779 --> 00:27:15.380 like, eh, I don't know. Oh, wait, no, I get to 00:27:15.380 --> 00:27:17.900 do this. Right? Tess and I, we'll throw this 00:27:17.900 --> 00:27:20.380 around the house every so often. So we'll sit 00:27:20.380 --> 00:27:21.619 there and we'll kind of get in a little rut. 00:27:21.839 --> 00:27:25.019 No, I get to do this. I get this. It's going 00:27:25.019 --> 00:27:26.880 to be a good thing. And it's always a good thing. 00:27:30.200 --> 00:27:33.880 You know, and we have to be wanting to. That's 00:27:33.880 --> 00:27:38.059 the key. We can't allow something to become something 00:27:38.059 --> 00:27:41.119 that we do just because we have to. And what 00:27:41.119 --> 00:27:42.400 we're seeing here, you know, it's talking about 00:27:42.400 --> 00:27:45.180 animal sacrifice. Thank the Lord we don't have 00:27:45.180 --> 00:27:48.700 to sacrifice animals anymore, right? No one would 00:27:48.700 --> 00:27:51.819 look forward to that. But we still make sacrifices 00:27:51.819 --> 00:27:56.059 of other things. And here, it's talking about 00:27:56.059 --> 00:27:58.160 animal sacrifice. Why? Because the animals, they 00:27:58.160 --> 00:28:00.779 had to be top shelf, essentially, right? The 00:28:00.779 --> 00:28:04.059 best of the best. But instead, people were taking 00:28:04.059 --> 00:28:10.220 things that they stole, sick, The lame, the crippled, 00:28:10.240 --> 00:28:13.500 the dying, instead of the best of the best, they're 00:28:13.500 --> 00:28:17.420 taking the worst of the worst. And the whole 00:28:17.420 --> 00:28:18.940 thing here, when it came to animal sacrifice, 00:28:19.259 --> 00:28:22.259 it was an example before Jesus came of the perfect 00:28:22.259 --> 00:28:25.700 lamb, right? The lamb that came and shed his 00:28:25.700 --> 00:28:27.779 blood for our sin and our transgression so we 00:28:27.779 --> 00:28:31.019 could be reunited with God. That's what these 00:28:31.019 --> 00:28:32.619 sacrifices were about. But people took it for 00:28:32.619 --> 00:28:34.480 granted. Oh, man. It's like, do you know how 00:28:34.480 --> 00:28:37.980 much this sheep is worth? This ram? It's like, 00:28:38.000 --> 00:28:39.819 do I really have to do this? This is ridiculous. 00:28:41.019 --> 00:28:45.279 Because people didn't understand. Why? Because 00:28:45.279 --> 00:28:47.500 they had people teaching them who didn't teach 00:28:47.500 --> 00:28:49.839 the way they should and took it for granted themselves. 00:28:53.299 --> 00:28:56.579 You know, the priests themselves. And when something 00:28:56.579 --> 00:28:58.039 good comes, oh, no, no, no, no. Here, we're going 00:28:58.039 --> 00:28:59.880 to keep this one over here. You take this one. 00:29:00.480 --> 00:29:04.480 We're going to sacrifice this. That one's going 00:29:04.480 --> 00:29:10.029 to be a tasty soup later. Right? That's what 00:29:10.029 --> 00:29:15.269 it was. You know? I've been thinking it this 00:29:15.269 --> 00:29:20.210 way. Anybody in here, when you get a gift, do 00:29:20.210 --> 00:29:22.589 you want someone's dirty, nasty, old, used -up 00:29:22.589 --> 00:29:28.670 underwear? Their crusty socks with holes? Right? 00:29:28.890 --> 00:29:31.230 Their shirt with a bunch of holes in it and stains? 00:29:33.349 --> 00:29:41.259 Nobody? No. It was not owned by someone famous. 00:29:41.380 --> 00:29:43.859 No. That's horrible. It's not Hendrix's. No. 00:29:44.940 --> 00:29:50.619 That's horrible. Okay. How about this? Who in 00:29:50.619 --> 00:29:52.019 here would be excited if somebody said, hey, 00:29:52.240 --> 00:29:55.180 I brought you a puppy, and the puppy was dead? 00:29:58.539 --> 00:30:01.339 Nobody? Nobody would be like, oh, sweet, it's 00:30:01.339 --> 00:30:03.019 a dead dog. I don't even have to feed it. I don't 00:30:03.019 --> 00:30:04.480 have to walk it. I don't have to scrape poop. 00:30:04.619 --> 00:30:08.660 This is great. No? But that's how people were 00:30:08.660 --> 00:30:10.819 treating God with their sacrifices. That's how 00:30:10.819 --> 00:30:13.380 we still treat Him today. We go half -heartedly. 00:30:16.160 --> 00:30:18.720 But we don't think about it that way. It's like, 00:30:18.759 --> 00:30:20.660 oh, I've got to do this. I've shared this story 00:30:20.660 --> 00:30:24.240 before about Billy Graham. Some of you may have 00:30:24.240 --> 00:30:26.619 heard this. Some of you may not have. I've always 00:30:26.619 --> 00:30:27.740 loved this story, though, because it's something 00:30:27.740 --> 00:30:29.539 that's always stuck with me. Billy Graham, we 00:30:29.539 --> 00:30:32.480 know, he toured a lot. He spoke at a lot of places. 00:30:32.579 --> 00:30:34.400 He went to a lot of churches. He was always up 00:30:34.400 --> 00:30:37.079 front and center, right? And on one particular 00:30:37.079 --> 00:30:39.000 occasion, he went to visit a church, and for 00:30:39.000 --> 00:30:41.000 a change, he didn't have to speak. He got to 00:30:41.000 --> 00:30:43.779 sit there in the pews with his wife and just 00:30:43.779 --> 00:30:47.059 enjoy the Word, right? Which for him was very 00:30:47.059 --> 00:30:49.539 refreshing because it doesn't happen often, especially 00:30:49.539 --> 00:30:52.440 when you're somebody of that status with that 00:30:52.440 --> 00:30:56.799 kind of profession, right? And it came time for 00:30:56.799 --> 00:30:59.849 the collection plate to come through. And as 00:30:59.849 --> 00:31:01.009 the collection plate's coming, he's like, oh, 00:31:01.029 --> 00:31:02.690 I want to give something. I got 10 bucks in my 00:31:02.690 --> 00:31:05.210 pocket. So he reaches in there, you know, he's 00:31:05.210 --> 00:31:07.569 like, where's it at? And he finally pulls out 00:31:07.569 --> 00:31:09.029 some money. He's like, okay, cool, I got some 00:31:09.029 --> 00:31:11.130 money. And the plate gets to him. And he looks 00:31:11.130 --> 00:31:12.890 down and he realizes, oh, it's not a $10 bill, 00:31:12.990 --> 00:31:14.549 it's a $100 bill. But he doesn't want to hold 00:31:14.549 --> 00:31:16.450 the plate up, so he throws that bill in and he 00:31:16.450 --> 00:31:20.210 passes the plate along. Later on, he's at home 00:31:20.210 --> 00:31:22.519 with his wife. And he tells her what happened. 00:31:22.599 --> 00:31:24.119 He's like, yeah, no, I wanted to throw $10 in 00:31:24.119 --> 00:31:26.460 there, but all I had in my pocket was $100, so 00:31:26.460 --> 00:31:27.619 I threw that in there, so I guess we're going 00:31:27.619 --> 00:31:29.579 to get blessed for that $100 bill. She goes, 00:31:29.680 --> 00:31:32.700 no, we're not. You're out of your mind. He's 00:31:32.700 --> 00:31:34.200 like, what? What are you talking about? Yeah, 00:31:34.240 --> 00:31:35.700 we are. I put $100 in the plate. She's like, 00:31:35.759 --> 00:31:37.480 no, we're not, because that's not what was on 00:31:37.480 --> 00:31:41.579 your heart. What was on your heart was $10. So 00:31:41.579 --> 00:31:44.359 the blessing is for the $10. None of the rest 00:31:44.359 --> 00:31:47.119 matters because your heart wasn't in it. You 00:31:47.119 --> 00:31:50.779 didn't give it because you wanted to. He did 00:31:50.779 --> 00:31:56.460 it because he felt you had to. And that's how 00:31:56.460 --> 00:32:01.059 we come to the Lord with so much. We don't invite 00:32:01.059 --> 00:32:04.880 people to our homes for dinner and be like, hey, 00:32:04.960 --> 00:32:07.880 I'm glad you came. Let me get some leftovers 00:32:07.880 --> 00:32:10.700 out. It's like, oh, that plate's still half eaten. 00:32:10.720 --> 00:32:12.000 I'm just going to take off their saran wrap, 00:32:12.099 --> 00:32:16.400 nuke it. Here you go. Maybe for family, like, 00:32:16.460 --> 00:32:18.180 hey, I got some leftovers. But we don't actually 00:32:18.180 --> 00:32:20.039 invite people over and say, hey, come on over. 00:32:20.079 --> 00:32:21.420 We're going to eat. And then we give them scraps, 00:32:21.680 --> 00:32:27.339 right? But that's what we're doing for God. Because 00:32:27.339 --> 00:32:30.799 our heart's not in it. We're like, yeah, this 00:32:30.799 --> 00:32:39.799 is good enough. We're basically fixing a meal. 00:32:40.440 --> 00:32:43.769 We're out there cooking a steak. And then we're 00:32:43.769 --> 00:32:46.549 giving it to the dog. And whatever is left over, 00:32:46.630 --> 00:32:51.029 we're handing over to God. And it's not the way 00:32:51.029 --> 00:32:53.730 it's supposed to be. As a matter of fact, in 00:32:53.730 --> 00:32:56.450 life, it's the same way because we charge forward 00:32:56.450 --> 00:33:00.569 with our own selfish wants. We don't even think 00:33:00.569 --> 00:33:02.029 about God most of the time. We don't put him 00:33:02.029 --> 00:33:04.349 first and foremost like we should until something 00:33:04.349 --> 00:33:10.329 happens. Oh, God. Come on, really? I'm hurting 00:33:10.329 --> 00:33:15.059 here. What's going on? I think it's Jelly Roll 00:33:15.059 --> 00:33:16.559 has that song that just came out not that long 00:33:16.559 --> 00:33:19.380 ago, talking about that very thing. Only time 00:33:19.380 --> 00:33:23.059 goes to God is when something's wrong. And for 00:33:23.059 --> 00:33:25.660 most of us, that's how we treat it. We treat 00:33:25.660 --> 00:33:32.680 God like a Band -Aid instead of the cure. We 00:33:32.680 --> 00:33:36.519 go out and we do something stupid, and we expect 00:33:36.519 --> 00:33:40.539 him, we go to Daddy, fix it. It's like it's not 00:33:40.539 --> 00:33:43.339 fixable. I told you not to do it. Why'd you do 00:33:43.339 --> 00:33:51.680 it? Now it's destroyed. I warned you. You know, 00:33:51.720 --> 00:33:53.380 when we give to God, we should be giving the 00:33:53.380 --> 00:33:56.839 best of the best. And we should do it with a 00:33:56.839 --> 00:33:59.299 happy heart because we want to, not because we 00:33:59.299 --> 00:34:03.339 have to. We shouldn't just be holding on to things 00:34:03.339 --> 00:34:08.760 for ourselves. I'm going to call out my wife 00:34:08.760 --> 00:34:11.519 here. She has a wonderful voice, does she not? 00:34:12.929 --> 00:34:15.170 She has a great voice. She's a good guitarist. 00:34:17.110 --> 00:34:19.070 That is a blessing from God. It's a gift from 00:34:19.070 --> 00:34:24.610 God. It has been given to her to share with the 00:34:24.610 --> 00:34:28.469 world, to share his glory and what he's capable 00:34:28.469 --> 00:34:31.989 of and lift up people. Because let's face it, 00:34:31.989 --> 00:34:34.329 music is very uplifting, especially when we're 00:34:34.329 --> 00:34:38.610 hurting, right? Now, what if she were to take 00:34:38.610 --> 00:34:42.460 that? Like, no, no, no. That's just for me. I'm 00:34:42.460 --> 00:34:44.639 not going to share it with anybody. The only 00:34:44.639 --> 00:34:46.159 time I'm going to sing is when I'm in the shower 00:34:46.159 --> 00:34:52.360 or when I'm home alone. And she could do that, 00:34:52.360 --> 00:34:54.519 oh, I'm doing it for you, Lord. It's all for 00:34:54.519 --> 00:34:59.760 you. But is it? Because it's not why he gave 00:34:59.760 --> 00:35:02.940 it to her. And what he's asking for us in return 00:35:02.940 --> 00:35:07.000 to sacrifice is a very small pittance compared 00:35:07.000 --> 00:35:10.280 to what he's given us and what he has sacrificed 00:35:10.280 --> 00:35:18.800 for us. and Jesus on the cross. The ultimate 00:35:18.800 --> 00:35:20.760 sacrifice, and he's asking for very little in 00:35:20.760 --> 00:35:27.760 return. Don't get, stay away from those addictions. 00:35:27.800 --> 00:35:29.659 Stay away from gambling. Stay away from pornography. 00:35:30.440 --> 00:35:33.880 Stay away from adultery. Now put those drugs 00:35:33.880 --> 00:35:38.579 down. Don't be a drunkard. Things that we already 00:35:38.579 --> 00:35:45.260 know. are bad for us anyway, right? But we just 00:35:45.260 --> 00:35:47.320 can't seem to put that last thing down because 00:35:47.320 --> 00:35:52.579 we want to hold on to it. We forget who everything 00:35:52.579 --> 00:35:54.539 is really about. We forget what this world is 00:35:54.539 --> 00:35:58.199 about. It's about him and not us. What made it 00:35:58.199 --> 00:36:00.599 worse here was people, they were looking for 00:36:00.599 --> 00:36:02.599 the fastest way to just get it done, get in and 00:36:02.599 --> 00:36:06.179 get out, right? They just wanted it done with, 00:36:06.219 --> 00:36:08.519 so they were careless. And this includes the 00:36:08.519 --> 00:36:12.269 priest. They were careless in their giving and 00:36:12.269 --> 00:36:15.650 the sacrifices that they had made, right? So 00:36:15.650 --> 00:36:17.650 they'd go in. It's like, hey, I had this. You 00:36:17.650 --> 00:36:18.789 know what? I don't want to have to deal with 00:36:18.789 --> 00:36:20.050 this, so let me just come over here and give 00:36:20.050 --> 00:36:21.929 you this instead. Okay, we're going to call it 00:36:21.929 --> 00:36:25.570 good. Bye -bye. Think of it this way. Something's 00:36:25.570 --> 00:36:27.309 going on with your car. You take it into the 00:36:27.309 --> 00:36:29.329 mechanic. Yeah, it's got this strange sound, 00:36:29.449 --> 00:36:32.690 and they see it. They know how to fix it, but 00:36:32.690 --> 00:36:35.010 they just want to get it back out the door as 00:36:35.010 --> 00:36:39.360 quickly as possible. Here's an example I know 00:36:39.360 --> 00:36:41.239 some of you will know of. It's not something 00:36:41.239 --> 00:36:42.860 that's really done anymore because cars run a 00:36:42.860 --> 00:36:44.460 little bit different. How about when they would 00:36:44.460 --> 00:36:46.940 go and they'd fill your exhaust system with sawdust 00:36:46.940 --> 00:36:48.239 or something to take care of the noise and mute 00:36:48.239 --> 00:36:52.460 it down? See, there's a smile here because Pastor 00:36:52.460 --> 00:36:54.179 Mike here knows exactly what I'm talking about, 00:36:54.380 --> 00:36:59.780 right? Some of those quick fixes. It's like, 00:36:59.780 --> 00:37:01.559 you know what? This isn't going to quite work, 00:37:01.739 --> 00:37:06.340 so let me go and weld it down. But it's not supposed 00:37:06.340 --> 00:37:11.800 to be welded. It's supposed to be screwed. Quick 00:37:11.800 --> 00:37:14.960 fixes. In and out. Boom. It's like, hey, God, 00:37:15.079 --> 00:37:17.780 love you. Peace out. I'm going this way. I'm 00:37:17.780 --> 00:37:22.500 going to the club. And people become like this 00:37:22.500 --> 00:37:26.360 because they're selfish. They're stingy. People 00:37:26.360 --> 00:37:29.780 become stingy. The bare bones minimum that they 00:37:29.780 --> 00:37:31.739 get by with. It's like, you know what? I have 00:37:31.739 --> 00:37:33.739 this. I know I'm supposed to be giving to God, 00:37:33.840 --> 00:37:35.679 but you know what? I'm going to keep this for 00:37:35.679 --> 00:37:42.360 me. God can make more for himself. And it's not 00:37:42.360 --> 00:37:45.880 the way it's supposed to be. Because when we 00:37:45.880 --> 00:37:48.739 give, it's a representation of our faith, our 00:37:48.739 --> 00:37:52.280 trust, and our relationship with God. How much 00:37:52.280 --> 00:37:54.719 we truly love him, how much we truly trust in 00:37:54.719 --> 00:37:58.380 him to take care of us and to meet our needs. 00:37:59.000 --> 00:38:01.559 Not our wants, because it's not about our wants. 00:38:01.699 --> 00:38:06.159 It's about our needs. Everything else is just... 00:38:06.139 --> 00:38:10.900 And it's fleeting because it will not stay. No 00:38:10.900 --> 00:38:13.340 matter how hard you hold on to it, it will always 00:38:13.340 --> 00:38:21.599 leave at some point. You know, and our sacrifices, 00:38:21.639 --> 00:38:27.119 the reason why it's top shelf is because it has 00:38:27.119 --> 00:38:31.059 to have value. Our sacrifices have to have value 00:38:31.059 --> 00:38:34.820 to us. Maybe not to somebody else, but it has 00:38:34.820 --> 00:38:39.500 to be valuable to us. Why? Because Jesus was 00:38:39.500 --> 00:38:42.300 the most valuable person on this planet. And 00:38:42.300 --> 00:38:48.699 God's son, his only son. I can't say that there 00:38:48.699 --> 00:38:51.579 would be many in here who were told, hey, you 00:38:51.579 --> 00:38:53.619 need to go and sacrifice your only child would 00:38:53.619 --> 00:38:55.800 be willing to do that. Or go and sacrifice your 00:38:55.800 --> 00:39:00.639 oldest child. That kind of hits home, doesn't 00:39:00.639 --> 00:39:02.829 it? Because who wants to give up their child? 00:39:04.489 --> 00:39:07.309 But God did it for us. So he's not asking us 00:39:07.309 --> 00:39:10.210 to do that. He's just asking us, hey, find something 00:39:10.210 --> 00:39:18.710 of value and make a sacrifice. And we make excuses. 00:39:20.389 --> 00:39:22.610 Oh, I'm hurting financially. Okay, doesn't have 00:39:22.610 --> 00:39:24.130 to be financial. There's other things that you 00:39:24.130 --> 00:39:27.460 can do to give. A lot of churches, they're probably 00:39:27.460 --> 00:39:29.739 turning over right now like, oh, no, this guy. 00:39:29.900 --> 00:39:32.059 He didn't just say that. Yes, if you actually 00:39:32.059 --> 00:39:34.300 read your Bible, your tithing and your gifts 00:39:34.300 --> 00:39:35.920 and your offerings, all that kind of stuff that 00:39:35.920 --> 00:39:38.380 they like to throw out, it's not all monetary. 00:39:38.699 --> 00:39:41.260 And when you get down to tax brass, a lot of 00:39:41.260 --> 00:39:43.320 it was actually a whole lot more than 10 % when 00:39:43.320 --> 00:39:45.980 you're looking at those times. Even today, who 00:39:45.980 --> 00:39:49.500 in here knows the cost of a horse, a cow, a sheep? 00:39:50.599 --> 00:39:53.380 Pretty expensive. And that's just for the animal, 00:39:53.539 --> 00:40:02.090 let alone the care for it. And I said, we need 00:40:02.090 --> 00:40:05.329 to trust in God to meet our needs instead of 00:40:05.329 --> 00:40:07.650 holding back the process. Because we're like, 00:40:07.670 --> 00:40:11.090 no, I'm going to do this. And withholding from 00:40:11.090 --> 00:40:15.510 God, we put Jesus out in the waiting room. And 00:40:15.510 --> 00:40:20.389 we insult God. But insulting him, we still expect 00:40:20.389 --> 00:40:25.650 him to give us the world. If I were to come up 00:40:25.650 --> 00:40:28.150 to Nick here. Nick, not trying to embarrass you. 00:40:29.629 --> 00:40:31.289 If I were to come out and say something horrible 00:40:31.289 --> 00:40:33.389 to you that just absolutely insulted you, insulted 00:40:33.389 --> 00:40:37.949 your intelligence, insulted you as a man, and 00:40:37.949 --> 00:40:41.750 then said, hey, I need you to do this, would 00:40:41.750 --> 00:40:43.969 you be very happy about doing what I asked you 00:40:43.969 --> 00:40:48.349 to do? Probably not, right? Exactly. Because 00:40:48.349 --> 00:40:50.090 I know if somebody came up to me and they insulted 00:40:50.090 --> 00:40:51.949 me like that, I'd be like, get out of here. Pound 00:40:51.949 --> 00:40:54.150 sand. You're lucky I don't punch you in the face 00:40:54.150 --> 00:41:00.150 right now. Right? And all of us, We all come 00:41:00.150 --> 00:41:05.610 to that point. I said, I wasn't trying to embarrass 00:41:05.610 --> 00:41:09.610 you or nothing. This is an example. Thank you 00:41:09.610 --> 00:41:13.789 for being a good sport. Love you, man. But that's 00:41:13.789 --> 00:41:18.349 how we treat God. You know, we need to check 00:41:18.349 --> 00:41:20.269 our attitudes when it comes to him. We need to 00:41:20.269 --> 00:41:21.590 check our attitudes when it comes to the kingdom. 00:41:21.730 --> 00:41:23.650 We need to check our attitudes in the way that 00:41:23.650 --> 00:41:25.230 we do things, the way that we say things, the 00:41:25.230 --> 00:41:27.289 way that we treat people, our actions. Do our 00:41:27.289 --> 00:41:30.230 actions actually show love for one another as 00:41:30.230 --> 00:41:31.849 we're commanded, right? Because we're told, love 00:41:31.849 --> 00:41:34.010 your neighbor. Do our actions show our love for 00:41:34.010 --> 00:41:36.929 God and for Christ? Do we sacrifice things for 00:41:36.929 --> 00:41:41.590 him? Right? Pick up your cross daily. That's 00:41:41.590 --> 00:41:44.369 what we're talking about with sacrifice. Because 00:41:44.369 --> 00:41:45.909 there's certain things that we know are not good 00:41:45.909 --> 00:41:47.530 for us, and as much as we want, we just need 00:41:47.530 --> 00:41:52.429 to do without. When you become a parent, you 00:41:52.429 --> 00:41:57.190 give things up for your kids. Every parent has. 00:41:58.230 --> 00:42:02.230 Even step -parents have given up things for their 00:42:02.230 --> 00:42:05.309 kids. Adopted parents have given things up for 00:42:05.309 --> 00:42:08.469 their kids. Even if you haven't had a kid, but 00:42:08.469 --> 00:42:11.449 you get a pet, you're going to make some sacrifices 00:42:11.449 --> 00:42:14.730 for that pet, right? Why? Because you love them. 00:42:16.389 --> 00:42:19.369 And you want to show that love. That's godly. 00:42:19.369 --> 00:42:24.269 That's Christ -like. And we need to remember 00:42:24.269 --> 00:42:30.469 we are ambassadors for Christ. Essentially, we're 00:42:30.469 --> 00:42:32.670 the middle man between people and God. We're 00:42:32.670 --> 00:42:33.989 showing them. We're making the introduction. 00:42:34.210 --> 00:42:35.849 This is what God's about. Let me tell you about 00:42:35.849 --> 00:42:38.650 him. Let me tell you about Jesus. Let me introduce 00:42:38.650 --> 00:42:41.050 you to him. We're not called to make the change 00:42:41.050 --> 00:42:42.760 in them. That's up to God. God, we just plant 00:42:42.760 --> 00:42:45.059 the seed, right? Here you go. Make the introduction. 00:42:45.420 --> 00:42:47.000 Then they form their relationship with them. 00:42:47.159 --> 00:42:49.519 And every relationship is different. Just like 00:42:49.519 --> 00:42:51.239 each and every one of us have a different relationship 00:42:51.239 --> 00:42:55.699 with one another. And that's our attitude. And 00:42:55.699 --> 00:42:59.360 it carries over. When we love something, it shows. 00:42:59.519 --> 00:43:00.840 People know it. They're like, oh, this guy's 00:43:00.840 --> 00:43:04.219 going to be great for this. It's like, I want 00:43:04.219 --> 00:43:05.820 to talk sports. I'm going to go to this guy. 00:43:05.900 --> 00:43:07.159 I want to talk motorcycles. I'm going to talk 00:43:07.159 --> 00:43:09.780 to this guy. I want cars. This guy. Oh, cooking. 00:43:09.880 --> 00:43:15.280 I'm going to talk to this girl here. Right? All 00:43:15.280 --> 00:43:17.460 these things, but we can't do it half -heartedly. 00:43:17.800 --> 00:43:21.360 We have to come and give the best of our time, 00:43:21.460 --> 00:43:25.239 our money, our resources, our services. It's 00:43:25.239 --> 00:43:27.480 the best that we have to give because those are 00:43:27.480 --> 00:43:31.760 the things that have value. And when we fail 00:43:31.760 --> 00:43:33.920 to do so, God tells us the same things that he 00:43:33.920 --> 00:43:36.559 told the Malachites. I'm not pleased with you. 00:43:38.539 --> 00:43:46.199 I'm not pleased with you. You know, if you casually 00:43:46.199 --> 00:43:49.320 pass off sin like these priests here were, and 00:43:49.320 --> 00:43:51.699 therefore the people that they were with, God's 00:43:51.699 --> 00:43:53.280 not going to be happy. He's going to be very 00:43:53.280 --> 00:43:55.039 let down. He's going to be very disappointed. 00:43:59.619 --> 00:44:02.300 You know, the people here, they saw all these 00:44:02.300 --> 00:44:06.519 things as a burden that they had to do. And it's 00:44:06.519 --> 00:44:10.360 no different today. People want to go and they 00:44:10.360 --> 00:44:11.639 want to hear things. They want to hear motivational 00:44:11.639 --> 00:44:16.630 speakers. Hey. It feels good. It's good. Health 00:44:16.630 --> 00:44:19.230 and wealth now. If you do A, B, C, and D, and 00:44:19.230 --> 00:44:21.449 you believe everything you want, you're going 00:44:21.449 --> 00:44:24.309 to be filthy rich, have perfect health. But that's 00:44:24.309 --> 00:44:27.309 not the truth. That's not the truth. And unfortunately, 00:44:27.389 --> 00:44:28.730 people don't want to hear the truth because the 00:44:28.730 --> 00:44:30.429 truth is hard to hear. It's a hard pill to swallow. 00:44:31.550 --> 00:44:33.289 When you're a follower of Christ, life is going 00:44:33.289 --> 00:44:37.369 to be hard. Life is already hard. It doesn't 00:44:37.369 --> 00:44:39.050 matter how much money or how much popularity 00:44:39.050 --> 00:44:42.489 you have. Life is hard. But people will persecute 00:44:42.489 --> 00:44:48.550 you and turn on you because of Jesus' name. Right? 00:44:49.789 --> 00:44:51.750 Get the whole Will Smith thing. Take that name 00:44:51.750 --> 00:44:53.889 out of your mouth. Right? I'm not going to say 00:44:53.889 --> 00:44:55.230 take my wife's name out of your mouth, but take 00:44:55.230 --> 00:44:57.929 my Jesus' name out of your mouth. And that's 00:44:57.929 --> 00:45:00.429 how people respond. Oh, no, no, no, no. That's 00:45:00.429 --> 00:45:02.230 not what I was told. My daddy said this. My daddy 00:45:02.230 --> 00:45:05.489 said that. Joel Osteen said this. Joel Osteen 00:45:05.489 --> 00:45:11.449 said that. Right? But it's not the truth. When 00:45:11.449 --> 00:45:13.730 we love one another, we hold each other accountable. 00:45:13.809 --> 00:45:15.969 We tell each other the truth no matter how much 00:45:15.969 --> 00:45:20.510 it hurts. Because when we love somebody, you 00:45:20.510 --> 00:45:22.289 don't want them to go astray. You don't want 00:45:22.289 --> 00:45:24.190 them to get hurt. You want what's ultimately 00:45:24.190 --> 00:45:27.210 the best for them. So you're going to tell them, 00:45:27.329 --> 00:45:32.710 don't do that. You're going to get burned. Don't 00:45:32.710 --> 00:45:37.769 do that. You're going to break a bone. Don't 00:45:37.769 --> 00:45:43.940 do that. You're going to get hurt. The word tells 00:45:43.940 --> 00:45:46.340 us we're going to be hated. We're going to be 00:45:46.340 --> 00:45:50.000 persecuted for his name. But God is going to 00:45:50.000 --> 00:45:51.760 have us face poverty. He's going to have us face 00:45:51.760 --> 00:45:53.840 suffering. He's going to have us face hardships 00:45:53.840 --> 00:45:59.599 and pains. And it's part of service to him. However, 00:45:59.699 --> 00:46:02.019 what we gain in heaven far exceeds anything that 00:46:02.019 --> 00:46:06.440 we will receive here on earth. And if God's the 00:46:06.440 --> 00:46:09.219 most important thing in our lives, we're not 00:46:09.219 --> 00:46:10.820 going to mind facing these things because we 00:46:10.820 --> 00:46:12.199 know it's temporary. We're going to get through 00:46:12.199 --> 00:46:14.409 it. It's not going to be easy, but we're going 00:46:14.409 --> 00:46:17.929 to get through it. And we know we're going to 00:46:17.929 --> 00:46:19.329 get through it all because God leaves us that 00:46:19.329 --> 00:46:21.269 way to get through it. Just going to take us 00:46:21.269 --> 00:46:23.070 to our last verse, and we're on the home stretch 00:46:23.070 --> 00:46:28.730 here, guys, I promise. Okay, maybe if this tablet 00:46:28.730 --> 00:46:38.829 wants to cooperate with me. And it's not. Can 00:46:38.829 --> 00:46:40.530 you get that next slide for me, Bri? Thank you. 00:46:40.969 --> 00:46:46.469 1 Corinthians 10, verses 12 through 14. So 1 00:46:46.469 --> 00:46:48.789 Corinthians 10, verses 12 through 14, the word 00:46:48.789 --> 00:46:52.570 says, Therefore, let him who thinks he stands 00:46:52.570 --> 00:46:58.010 take heed lest he fall. No temptation has overtaken 00:46:58.010 --> 00:47:03.170 you except such is common to man. But God is 00:47:03.170 --> 00:47:05.889 faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted 00:47:05.889 --> 00:47:09.190 beyond what you are able, but this is the part 00:47:09.190 --> 00:47:13.159 people leave off. but with the temptation will 00:47:13.159 --> 00:47:17.199 also make the way of escape that you may be able 00:47:17.199 --> 00:47:19.340 to bear it. It's not that he's not going to give 00:47:19.340 --> 00:47:22.559 you something that you can't get through. That's 00:47:22.559 --> 00:47:23.820 how people like to take this. They leave off 00:47:23.820 --> 00:47:25.780 that last part. Oh, God's not going to give you 00:47:25.780 --> 00:47:31.900 more than you can handle. Well, he is. He's going 00:47:31.900 --> 00:47:33.980 to give you something more than you can handle. 00:47:36.359 --> 00:47:38.400 but you're going to be able to handle it and 00:47:38.400 --> 00:47:41.400 get through it provided you lean into him, that 00:47:41.400 --> 00:47:44.840 you trust in him to get you through it. You cannot 00:47:44.840 --> 00:47:47.820 get through it alone, but you can get through 00:47:47.820 --> 00:47:53.539 it with God. The most hurtful things in our lives, 00:47:53.679 --> 00:47:55.719 the easiest way to get through it, we turn to 00:47:55.719 --> 00:47:59.659 Jesus. We try to go it alone, and we harden. 00:48:02.500 --> 00:48:07.489 Plain and simple. God will supply our needs. 00:48:07.590 --> 00:48:09.130 He will lead us through those hardships. He will 00:48:09.130 --> 00:48:11.329 lead us through those temptations and get us 00:48:11.329 --> 00:48:13.369 through to the other side. And he will ensure 00:48:13.369 --> 00:48:18.369 that we reach that promised land. And he will 00:48:18.369 --> 00:48:21.829 test us. He will test us. But when he tests us, 00:48:21.969 --> 00:48:28.510 it's not for his sake. It's for us. People always 00:48:28.510 --> 00:48:30.670 think, oh, I'm going to be tested. Oh, the devil's 00:48:30.670 --> 00:48:33.400 testing me or whatever. You know, and it's for 00:48:33.400 --> 00:48:36.519 their sake. No, God's going to test us, but it's 00:48:36.519 --> 00:48:39.559 for our sake so that we can see where our weaknesses 00:48:39.559 --> 00:48:44.719 are, where we fall short of the goal, what we 00:48:44.719 --> 00:48:48.559 need to work on to improve, where our relationship 00:48:48.559 --> 00:48:51.300 is with him and how much we trust him and how 00:48:51.300 --> 00:48:53.059 much we're willing to go to him and how much 00:48:53.059 --> 00:48:57.400 we're willing to lean into him instead of trying 00:48:57.400 --> 00:49:00.599 to do it all on our own. Because we have all 00:49:00.599 --> 00:49:04.679 these pains. We have all these burdens. We have 00:49:04.679 --> 00:49:08.500 all these issues. And it hurts and it weighs 00:49:08.500 --> 00:49:11.860 us down and it bogs us down in our life. Because 00:49:11.860 --> 00:49:13.639 it's not meant for us to carry. It's meant for 00:49:13.639 --> 00:49:17.900 us to take it to Jesus and leave it. Not grab 00:49:17.900 --> 00:49:19.599 the rope and pull it back out the door with us 00:49:19.599 --> 00:49:22.960 as we leave the temple. You take it, you leave 00:49:22.960 --> 00:49:24.519 it to Jesus. It's not to say it's not going to 00:49:24.519 --> 00:49:26.739 continue to hurt for a while. Why? Because wounds 00:49:26.739 --> 00:49:31.699 need to heal. What wound has anybody had that 00:49:31.699 --> 00:49:35.800 is healed instantly? Nobody with no wound ever. 00:49:35.940 --> 00:49:40.079 Why? Because they take time. But it will heal. 00:49:42.199 --> 00:49:45.880 It heals faster when you go to Jesus. The cure. 00:49:50.400 --> 00:49:52.460 We have to remember he's our shepherd. He loves 00:49:52.460 --> 00:49:55.719 us. He wants what's best for us. And if we'll 00:49:55.719 --> 00:49:57.969 just let go and we'll trust him. And we go to 00:49:57.969 --> 00:50:00.769 him. Guess what? It doesn't matter how much you've 00:50:00.769 --> 00:50:02.909 half -hearted things in your life. It doesn't 00:50:02.909 --> 00:50:04.449 matter how much you've fallen short or you've 00:50:04.449 --> 00:50:07.369 been selfish. He will forgive you for all of 00:50:07.369 --> 00:50:11.570 these things because he loves you. And he will 00:50:11.570 --> 00:50:16.570 lead you to where you need to be. You just have 00:50:16.570 --> 00:50:18.550 to be willing to surrender to him and give him 00:50:18.550 --> 00:50:23.590 your very best day after day after day. And with 00:50:23.590 --> 00:50:24.929 that said, that's going to be our time for the 00:50:24.929 --> 00:50:27.400 week. I'm not going to hold you all up any longer. 00:50:27.659 --> 00:50:32.260 So let us pray. Lord, we thank you for this day, 00:50:32.420 --> 00:50:35.139 your mercy, your grace. We recognize we've fallen 00:50:35.139 --> 00:50:38.719 short. We've looked inwardly and stared towards 00:50:38.719 --> 00:50:42.659 the Holy Spirit. We've looked at ourselves selfishly. 00:50:43.079 --> 00:50:44.900 We've served ourselves when we should have served 00:50:44.900 --> 00:50:47.980 you. We ask for your forgiveness as we've fallen 00:50:47.980 --> 00:50:52.699 short time and time again. Please guide us. Guide 00:50:52.699 --> 00:50:54.900 us to better surrender ourselves to serve you 00:50:54.900 --> 00:50:58.599 and to serve the world as you'd have us do in 00:50:58.599 --> 00:51:01.780 word and in deed. Build us up so that we can 00:51:01.780 --> 00:51:03.699 properly reach and serve others in your name 00:51:03.699 --> 00:51:07.739 and point the way to you. We thank you for your 00:51:07.739 --> 00:51:09.739 perfect sacrifice, which has set us free and 00:51:09.739 --> 00:51:12.280 reminds us of why we need to make sacrifices 00:51:12.280 --> 00:51:15.039 and do without certain things and why we need 00:51:15.039 --> 00:51:16.539 to be willing to give of the things that we've 00:51:16.539 --> 00:51:21.769 been blessed with in return. We thank you. for 00:51:21.769 --> 00:51:25.429 the chance to serve. And we ask that we may never 00:51:25.429 --> 00:51:28.610 see it as a burden, but as an opportunity and 00:51:28.610 --> 00:51:32.070 as a blessing as it's supposed to be. In all 00:51:32.070 --> 00:51:34.130 this, we love you, we praise you, and we thank 00:51:34.130 --> 00:51:36.969 you for all this and more. And all these people 00:51:36.969 --> 00:51:39.670 said, amen and amen. Remember, as we leave here 00:51:39.670 --> 00:51:41.869 today, you are loved and you are blessed, so 00:51:41.869 --> 00:51:46.769 go and be the church. Thank you for joining us 00:51:46.769 --> 00:52:07.349 at Healing Scars with Pastor Burton. Until next 00:52:07.349 --> 00:52:09.750 time, take care and God bless.